go long. >>> president obama and house speaker john boehner both talking today about the looming fiscal cliff. but not to each other. the president was making his case on the road while boehner was dismissing the white house proposal as a joke. cnn senior congressional correspondent dana bash joins us live from the capital. dana, what's the latest? >> reporter: well, joe, it turns out he laughed at geithner when he proposed the white house package which includes $1.6 trillion in tax increases. instead, today mcconnell floated to "the wall street journal" the idea of revenues by medicare and eligibility age, but democrats are very dug in. they say anything that doesn't include tax increases on the wealthy is a nonstarter. a day after getting a white house proposal the republicans greeted as a joke, they're not laughing. >> now, the white house took three weeks to respond with any kind of a proposal and much to my disappointment it wasn't a serious one. >> reporter: house speaker john boehner rushed to the cameras to respond to the president's campaign-style event at a suburban philadelph